What about my taxes – March 2020 Edition

This month is typically when most people will start thinking about their taxes. Not because they want to get them done early, or because they’ve been reading these articles (though we hope you are!), but because they get a tax slip in the mail with the words “Retain this form for Income Tax Purposes.” These are dreaded words for most people because they realize that they have to file their taxes, again, and they want it done and over with. It’s unfortunate, but a lot of people misfile their taxes because they don’t obtain all their tax slips, and then miss something. Unfortunately, the CRA has a nasty habit of catching ALL the forms that show what you owe taxes on, but can forget the forms that show what you can deduct, leaving you in a rough position if they decide to reassess your taxes several months later and tell you how much you now owe back to them, with interest. Here’s a quick list of forms you should think about, watch for, or hunt down to reduce your chances of being in that position.

Income Slips – Unless you are self-employed (which we will talk about in a future article), there is a good chance you earned some money throughout the year. Most people work for someone else and will receive either a T4 for standard employment income, a T4A for supplementary income, or some other kind of T-slip depending on how you earned money such as the following:

·       T4A(OAS) – Old Age Security for Canadian residents age 65 years or older

·       T4A(P) – Canada Pension Plan Benefits for Canadians who are receiving retirement, child, disability or death benefits

·       T4E – Employment Insurance Benefits for qualifying Canadians due to unemployment, parental/medical/bereavement leave or tuition assistance

·       T4RSP/T4RIF – Registered Retirement Savings Plan or Registered Retirement Income Fund for money withdrawn or received from said plan or fund

·       T4(PS) – Employment Profit Sharing income (T4)

·       T3 – Trust Income Allocations & Designations (NOTE: These aren’t required to be issued until Mar.31, opposed to other slips issued by Feb.28 or Feb.29)

·       T5 – Investment Income

·       T5007 – Benefits from WCB (Worker’s Compensation Board), social assistance or provincial/territorial supplements

·       T5008 – Dispositions of securities held in an investment (T5)

While this is not a complete list of ALL T-slips you could receive, it covers the vast majority of income-related items that would have a material impact on your tax situation for the year. 

RRSP Contributions – If you are one of the proactive Canadians that utilize the advantages of contributing to an RRSP (or had seen the article we posted last month on these benefits), you are likely going to see some RRSP Contribution Slips. Usually you will receive a slip for any lump-sum contribution, but if you have a periodic payment setup, you may get 2 slips – one for March to December of the filing year contributions, and another for January/February of the year following. Be careful and make sure you get them all, as some institutions will issue separate slips for January and February, and some are know to issue slips for every periodic contribution. 

T2202A – Tuition and Enrolment Certificate which shows the amounts paid towards an accredited post-secondary institution, stating the amount, number of months enrolled and whether you were enrolled part-time or full-time in post-secondary studies. There can also be boxes showing additional amounts received such as donations that can also be used for tax deductions.

Of course, another option is to contact one of the friendly staff at Zablocki & Associates Inc. who will spend the time to learn about you and your life so they can help you determine what forms you might need to look for to ensure you not only file correctly, but also claim all the deductions you are eligible to reduce the taxes you owe, unlike some of those OTHER GUYS.